isabel

Next summer (end of June 2014) I have the opportunity to spend 2 or 3 days (3 or 4 nights) in London between other destinations. I've been to London many times and done quite a few day trips (Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Stonehenge, Warwick, Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Windsor, Greenwich, Kew, Brighton, Sissinghurst, Arundle, Leeds Castle, Canterbury) so I'd like to do something different. Definitely considering Hampton Court but I'd also like one other day trip.

I especially like castles and gardens (actual castles more than manor houses) and it needs to be by public transportation. Don't mind walking a mile or so though from a train station.

Bodiam Castle looks great but hard to get to. Could you do that and Rye on the same day? How would that work?

Hever Castle looks great too but gets some pretty mixed reviews - especially the bit about the walk from the train station (have alternately read 'pleasant walk through English countryside' and 'terrible walk along busy road and through muddy fields'.)

Arundle Castle also looks good but finding very little on line (other than it's own website) and wondering why that is given it looks as good as those other two.

Also any ideas of different things to do in London itself? Just read Jamikins post on the graffiti and would check that out. Other things like that?

PalenQ

http://chislehurst-caves.co.uk/

In suburban London reached easily by train - Dr Who shows have been shot here in these caves.

PalenQ

http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/

I enjoyed Hatfield House a whole lot - short train ride from London and short walk to this historic house with acclaimed gardens.

willit

Dover castle is fascinating, for both it's long history, and the wartime hospital bult into the cliffs under it.

My other favourite is Portchester (near Portsmouth, has a station) - a slab sided Norman keep within a Roman walls. It could be done as a part of a daytrip to Portsmouth. The Tudor fortifications along the seafront are quite castle like, and the Naval Dockyard museum is superb (if a little expensive for a one off visit)

hetismij2

Colchester has a castle worth seeing in my opinion. It is closed at the moment, but reopens next spring, so should be all nice and shiny for your visit in June .

http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/ca...r%20castle.htm

http://www.cimuseums.org.uk/making-a-visit.html

annw

If you want another interesting town (no castle I'm aware of) there's Winchester.

dwdvagamundo

Second willit. Portchester is very interesting and very different, and Portsmouth is so interesting that my spouse wants to go back next time we're in the UK.

flanneruk

"have alternately read 'pleasant walk through English countryside' and 'terrible walk along busy road and through muddy fields'.

The same facts. Recounted first by a sensible person, then by the sort of wimp who moans about finding sheepdung on a footpath (90% of which are simply rights of way across fields or through woodland.) ALL British roads are busy if you walk along them, which is why it's always working out whether there's an all-footpath route. If you're allergic to mud (or ill-shod) don't use footpaths.

Arundel is a bit of a fraud. The castle has been perpetually restored for the past 200 years, and never had to handle a siege in its previous 500. It backs onto a cathedral that's the wrong denomination (all British Catholic cathedrals are recent and, apart from Westminster, Liverpool and Birmingham, of zero architectural or aesthetic interest) and - again like all British Catholic cathedrals - built at one go. The net effect is a bit like one of those Las Vegas hotels modelled on Venice or Paris.

I'm with willit on Portchester, both the castle and the town (the only place on the south coast I could contemplate living in). But it's not big on gardens (though it fronts onto great and very atmospheric marshland) and it doesn't altogether look like many people's idea of a castle.

PalenQ

I walked ffrom Hever train station to the castle and could not find the footpath that apparently does exist - and the walk along a busy road was a bit unnerving - so I guess there is a path - but Hever was well worth the effort - and a better way of going would be to take a bus from a nearby town - forget its name - right to the castle area.

Hever train station was very quiet - did not even see any taxis there though there was a taxi phone number on the wall.

nytraveler

We loved Dover Castle, including the remaining Roman ruins. Not sure about getting there though - we had a car.

RM67

Yes you could very easily do Bodiam and Rye on the same day, with a car. I don't think Bodiam is particularly great as a public transport option either on its own or with another location however.

Another alternative would be train to Mannintree then walk up the River Stour - some beautiful Constable countryside and ole timbered buildings, though no castles. But you would see Flatford Mill, Willy Lotts cottage, the water meadows and have a chance to squeeze in a cream tea.

RM67

old not ole

RM67

Sorry - Manningtree. I am in typo hell today

Dr_DoGood

I'm editing this post down from a reply I posted back in 2010 to a similar thread - don't overlook the search function here, allbeit one with limited functionality:

<b>Bodiam</b> Absolutely first rate. Do not miss. The best moat in Britain? Probably. Everything a castle should be. In spades. Do not miss.
<b>Rochester</b> Another personal favourite. I love the way the story of John's seige in 1215 is written so clearly in the architecture (the one round tower built to replace the mined one). The Keep is the most impressive in England, along with The White Tower and Richmond in Yorks. You can also pop into Rochester's pocket sized cathedral next door for a bit of God to go with your military history.
<b>Hever</b> As far as castles go it's a nice house. As far as houses go it's a poor castle. Move on.
<b>Leeds (Kent)</b> Another good moat, very romantic ensemble view but beyond that I'll pass. A dog-collar museum?! V. popular with coach parties and tourists so what do I know? If you want my opinion it's been gussied up to the nines and beyond. It'd make a lovely house though.
<b>Deal</b> Yes! Great choice. The Device Forts are underappreciated: castle building in a gunpowder-enabled world. Fascinating.
<b>Arundel</b> As a residence it's been maintained and restored beyond my personal ideal (I like a good ruin if you hadn't already guessed!) much as can be said for Leeds and Berkeley. Therefore in my view it's too neat and tidy and has little in the way of charisma. If you want to though, don't let me put you off.

May I also profer some suggestions. Rather than Arundel & Chartwell what about <b>Herstmonceaux</b>? Similarly it's been a residence/observatory/university since restoration but as a brick castle with a moat it is pretty fascinating.
And rather than Hever what about <b>Scotney</b>? You get both a grand country house and seperate ruined mediaeval castle for your money and some of the finest gardens in the British Isles.
If you're going to <b>Deal</b> can you not also squeeze in <b>Dover</b>? Huge, imposing, fantastic. And a Roman lighthouse too. What more could you want?
Talking of Roman what about <b>Pevensey</b>? You could do it with <b>Bodiam</b>. It was a Roman fort, Anglo Saxon fort, Norman encampment and finally a proper Medieaval castle. It was even used for defence in WW2 when Canadian and US troops made some very cleverly hidden pillboxes built into the walls in case the German invasion came (this was their sector of the coast). The Pill boxes are still there but you may need a guidebook to spot them they are that well camouflaged.

[For something "different" what about] <b>Lullingstone Roman Villa</b>? It's also right next door to <b>Eynsford Castle</b> - one of the most intact Norman Castles in England (not that there's masses left to see - but there is plenty) - so it'd be rude not too really, wouldn't it.

Finally - if Roman Villas are your thing then scrub out Arundel entirely and go to <b>Fishbourne Roman Palace</b> instead - the largest Roman Palace discovered north of The Alps. With mosaics to match its status. It's brilliant and breathtaking and why it's not more visited I'll never know. You could top of that day with a visit to the <b>Weald and Downland Open Air Museum</b> but I'll let you Google that yourself to see whether it'd appeal.

Finally, finally - you also might want to look up <b>Richborough Roman Fort</b> (near Deal Castle for a Deal/Dover/Richborough Trifecta)and <b>Cromer Castle</b> if you fancy an excuse to visit Rye.

Dr D.

RM67

I love Bodiam. I'd have it as a must-see too, even if it meant hiring a car.

Gordon_R

<b>Lewes Castle</b> in Sussex is small but old and very picturesque. The town of Lewes itself has a nice historic feel to it and also hosts the tudor Anne of Cleves House and some attractive gardens.

PalenQ

http://www.visittunbridgewells.com/s...cover-the-town

Royal Tunbridge Wells has been one of my very favorite day trips from London - plus it is not very far away by train.

PalenQ

for something different consider doing the very popular Cookham to Marlowe walk along the Thames - between two old cities - a lovely rural walk along the Thames Path - not far from London.

http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Thame...Cookham(1).pdf

carolyn

This is from one of my London trip reports:

And then there was the day we went to Hever and couldn't find the castle. The ticket agent at Victoria Station told us there was trouble on the line and we should change trains at East Clapham. We dutifully got off and asked the agent which train to get for Hever, and he pointed to the one we had just got off of which was then moving on, saying we should change at Oxted for Hever which was what the man at the departure point at Victoria had said. So we waited half an hour for another train to Oxted and then another half an hour for the train to Hever.

The station at Hever is not manned but does have a painted board with directions for walking the mile to the castle. However, a U.S. couple from CT got off, he waving a map and saying this way to the castle. I should have known better than to go with them because she was wearing jeans and (gasp) white walking shoes, but we followed along a pretty deserted road, eating wild blackberries and avoiding horse droppings along the way, while walking up a long and fairly steep hill. DD and I fell somewhat behind after more than enough time to have walked a mile and then saw the couple coming back with the news that they had seen a sign pointing to the castle back the way we had come.

Let me say here that Hever is a VERY small place with the castle, a church, the Henry VIII Pub and a few houses scattered along those quiet roads. We had passed another pub on that wrong road, so the CT guy went in, asked directions, and was told to take the footpath just beside the pub which would take us directly to the castle.

Okay, we started out on a very narrow path lined with brambles and littered with sheep droppings, and then we came to the first stile. It was pretty rickety but climbable, so over we went only to find ourselves in a farmer’s field complete with cow droppings and a sign saying it was private property but could be used to connect to the footpath further along.

Did that, climbed another stile, back onto the footpath which then came to a dead end with stiles to the right and to the left. The Connecticut Yankee wanted to go right, which was back in the wrong direction from which we had just come. At that point even his wife protested, so we climbed left and saw more footpath that at last led to the village.

We did enjoy seeing the castle, learning some history, and seeing the beautiful Italian gardens and the rose garden that still had lots of bloom. It was a brisk sunny day for all our walking but did start to rain while we were in the gardens. When we turned to look back just as the rain ended, there was a beautiful rainbow just across the river that lies beyond the arches at the end of the gardens.

We got back to the train station following the correct road, got the train back to Oxted, changed trains properly, and then found that the trouble on the line was on the return portion to London. Instead of getting back to Victoria, we ended up at London Bridge station, got on a District Line tube—headed in the wrong direction! Well, that was pretty easy to correct, got off, changed sides, got on again, and didn’t get caught outside our tube pass zone.

The moral of this story is don’t follow strangers equipped with internet maps and look for the rainbows.

Boveney

Some of the above suggestions may be a bit ambitious for a daytrip, keeping in mind the OP's need to go by public transportation (probably should say here that I am bone lazy when it comes to getting up early and rushing out and about when travelling on holiday). Eg the train to Fishbourne is about two hours and requires one change. I second the Rochester suggestion: (approx 1 hour direct train) although feel a bit of a fraud in doing so as I haven't actually been there. Daughter visited on a school trip though and enjoyed it and it has long been on my list, chiefly for the Dickens connexion, including the 'Miss Havisham' house and garden. Looking at the national Rail Days out guide should give you some ideas and alert you to the 2 for 1 entry deals. The 2014 offers should be very similar to this year's: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/rochester-castle